VZCZCXRO6430
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #0675/01 1740710
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 230710Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0409
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0426
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 000675 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USAID - AFR/SA MARJORIE COPSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID KHIV SOCI KMCA KTIA AMGT
SUBJECT: PM SUPPORTS COUNTRY ASSISTANCE STRATEGY AND 
HIV/AIDS PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK 
 
REF: A. MAPUTO 610 
     ¶B. MAPUTO 493 
 
MAPUTO 00000675  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: The Charge d'Affaires and other senior Mission staff met 
with Mozambican Prime Minister, Dr. Luisa Diogo on June 19 to share 
the recently-approved USG Country Assistance Strategy and discuss 
the process of developing a Partnership Framework to guide 
programming to address HIV/AIDS over the next five years.  The Prime 
Minister was pleased to see the strong alignment of the U.S. foreign 
assistance strategy with Mozambican government priorities and noted 
the important signal continued U.S. assistance and high resource 
levels represents for Mozambique at this time.  She pledged her 
support, as head of the National Council to Combat HIV/AIDS 
involving various key Ministries, to the development of a 
Partnership Framework, noting that the Government is also developing 
a new HIV/AIDS strategy over the next few months that will inform 
this process.  In response to information regarding difficulties in 
getting work permits for expatriates required to implement USG 
foreign assistance programs or open up U.S. companies wanting to 
invest in Mozambique (reftels), the Prime Minister expressed concern 
and asked for further information to raise the issue in high-level 
government discussions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------- 
Country Assistance Strategy 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. On June 19, 2009, the Charge d'Affaires, USAID Mission Director, 
CDC Director, and the Director of USAID's Health Office met with 
Mozambican Prime Minister, Dr. Luisa Diogo to present the new 
Country Assistance Strategy that will guide USG foreign assistance 
over the next five years and solicit her support for the development 
of a five-year Partnership Framework to guide USG programming under 
the President's Emergency Plan of AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  The USG 
delegation began by outlining the strategic focus and priorities of 
the Country Assistance Strategy, noting that it was a result of 
various consultations with representatives from government, private 
sector, civil society, and expert analysts and was based on various 
Mozambican government strategies.  The Charg indicated that current 
projections for future USG foreign assistance to Mozambique over the 
next five year, including the implementation of the existing 
Millennium Challenge Compact, could total nearly $2 billion. 
 
¶3.  The Prime minister stated that this strong U.S. commitment to 
development assistance in Mozambique in the midst of the 
international crisis sent a very strong, positive message to the 
Government of Mozambique and other donor countries.  Further, she 
was extremely impressed with the focus of the strategy, praising the 
in-depth consultative process resulting in a strategy directly 
aligned with the most critical needs of Mozambique.  She highlighted 
the two new areas of U.S. Government involvement, education and 
support for the police as particular needs of her country.  The 
Prime Minister noted the strength of current U.S. Government 
assistance programs, especially the Millennium Challenge Account, 
PEPFAR, and food security programs, and expressed satisfaction that 
the U.S. Government is scaling up assistance to Mozambique. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Partnership Framework for USG Investment in HIV/AIDS 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶4.  The U.S. delegation explained that the projected U.S. Government 
investment of $1 billion in HIV/AIDS in Mozambique over the next 
five years would need to be guided by a Partnership Framework that 
will clarify the priorities and commitments of both the U.S. 
Government and the Government of Mozambique to combat HIV/AIDS 
through service delivery, policy reform, and coordinated financial 
commitments.  The USG group noted that her leadership would be 
crucial in coordinating all the key Ministries that form part of the 
National AIDS Council and that she would be asked to sign the 
Framework on behalf of the Mozambican government. 
 
¶5.  The Prime Minister was very pleased with this approach, stating 
that HIV/AIDS is a cross cutting theme of extremem importance to 
every part of the Mozambican Government.  Further, she stated that 
this planning process would coincide with the Mozambican Government 
five-year planning process including the development of the third 
Mozambican national planning process, including the development of 
the third Mozambican national plan for HIV/AIDS that would be 
developed over the next few months.  The Prime Minister agreed that 
coordination with the National AIDS Council would be important 
because of the multisectoral nature of their membership, including 
civil society.  She also stated that she would inform the Minister 
of Public Administration to request close collaboration in the 
development of the Partnership Framework as they develop an HIV/AIDS 
 
MAPUTO 00000675  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
initiative within the public sector. 
 
---------------------- 
Work Permit Challenges 
---------------------- 
 
¶6.  The Charg stressed the continued commitment of the U.S. 
Government to strengthening our bilateral partnership through 
development assistance but noted that implementing this ambitious 
and complex program would require the contribution of some 
expatriate professionals to compensate for the sever human resource 
shortage in Mozambique.  The Charg stated that non-transparent, 
bureaucratic work permit approval processes are negatively affecting 
the U.S. Government's ability to obtain work permits for expatriate 
staff members (reftels).  The Charg highlighted several specific 
examples including the cancelation of a training of 30 health 
workers in HIV treatment provision because the expatriate trainers 
were denied work permits.  The Charg stated that the private sector 
has also been negatively impacted, discouraging critical foreign 
investment, noting that Chiquita operations in Nampula had been 
fined $200,000 shortly after the visit of President Guebuza and that 
Chiquita had chosen to locate its bureaucratic red-tape. 
 
¶7.  The Prime Minsiter was very concerned about the negative impact 
of the work permit issue on both development assistance and private 
sector investment.  She stated that elements of the new labor law 
such as quotas are not new, concluding that this is more of a 
political problem and an incorrect interpretation of the law rather 
than a legal issue.  She mentioned hearing similar concerns about 
the work permit system during her overseas travel and asked the 
Charg for more information on concrete examples of work permit 
challenges and the negative consequences.  The Prime Minister stated 
that she would follow up on this important issue. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
COMMENT: Positive Move on Framework Agreement 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  The Prime Minister's comments on the close alignment between the 
Country Assistance Strategy with government priorities and plans 
were a welcome confirmation of the consultation process and new 
directions proposed.  Her leadership as chair of the board of 
National AIDS Council, which includes the Minister of Health, 
Minister of Education, and Minister of Women and Social Action, 
among others, will be critical to developing a multi-sectoral 
strategy for HIV/AIDS that orients the development of a Partnership 
Framework with the USG.  Though some see her political influence 
waning within the government, she still wields significant influence 
on economic and technical issues that may be helpful in addressing 
the work permit problems that have negatively affected our 
assistance programs and been a disincentive for private investment. 
CHAPMAN